Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejects the idea that Canada’s willingness to help two citizens detained in China is an admission that the country was engaging in espionage on Ottawa’s behalf.
The federal government will be there to help Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor rebuild their lives after being arbitrarily detained in China for three years, Trudeau said Thursday.
Canada has supported Kovrig and Spavor from the start because China decided to use them as pawns in geopolitical games, Trudeau said at a news conference in Toronto.
“We were there to support the two Michaels who faced unimaginable hardship when they were arbitrarily detained by China,” he said. “We will continue to be here to support them.”
He said China arrested the Canadians for political reasons, adding there was “absolutely no justification, no reason, no excuse for them to have done that.”
Trudeau’s comments came a day after John Phillips, a lawyer for Spavor, suggested his client had reached a detention agreement with the federal government.
Phillips said in an email that the matter had been “resolved” between Spavor and the government.
Trudeau declined Thursday to say whether Ottawa had compensated Kovrig, citing the need for confidentiality.
Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, an executive at China’s Huawei Technologies, in December 2018 at the request of the United States, where she was facing charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
The move apparently angered Beijing, and Kovrig and Spavor – two Canadians working in China – were arrested shortly afterwards on charges of endangering national security, a move widely seen as retaliation against Ottawa.
Spavor was convicted of espionage in closed Chinese courts in 2021; Kovrig also stood trial, but a verdict was never announced. Canada and many allies said the trial amounted to arbitrary detention on false charges in an unaccountable justice system.
The U.S. worked out a deferred prosecution agreement in Meng’s case that allowed her release, and Beijing allowed the two Michaels, as they were known, to fly home in September 2021.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2024.
“Coffeeaholic. Lifelong alcohol fanatic. Typical travel expert. Prone to fits of apathy. Internet trailblazer.”